BY SARA KEDDY
Kings County Register
Anyone worried about Ben Brown can stop.
The 20-year-old is “getting better everyday with everything” and looking forward to an independent future.
The Weston man was paralyzed in an ATV accident while practicing with his four-wheeler on a track in August 2006. A year-and-a-half later, he’s back on his bike, playing wheelchair basketball, weightlifting, driving his modified truck and well on his way to a career as a therapeutic recreation counsellor.
“I like it when people say I’m courageous, but I’m over that. I want to be more, I want to show people the chair and the life and activity I have. I do more in my wheelchair than I ever did able bodied.”
He’s pleased with himself - and so are his doctors.
“When I first met my surgeon after the accident, I was in denial that this was going to be reality. I said, ‘How am I going to do this?’
“He said, ‘Go for it’.”
Brown has.
In the fall of 2006, months after his accident, Brown made connections with wheelchair basketball players at the Tools for Life conference in Wolfville. At an Acadia demo game, he tried it.
“I loved it - it appealed to me like playing hockey did: very fast, very physical. I’m a low pointer (with a high level injury), so I look after the dirty stuff.”
That means banging chairs and tipping other players out at times. He now plays with a Halifax team, and has since tried his hand at sledge hockey, wheelchair football and is eying sit-skiing.
Eleven months after his accident, he couldn’t stand the wait any more and took his under-modification four-wheeler around the yard. With all its adaptive features in place, Brown entered obstacle competitions at exhibitions last summer and fall and is looking at the upcoming racing season - in a big way.
He’s been talking on-line with racers as far as the States on disabled opportunities. One well-known rider has invited him to come and compete in May at the World Power Sports Association races in Illinois.
“This is my big debut: a U.S. national race. What more could you ask for? If I think about it in school, I can’t concentrate.”
While pro-racing is number one for Brown, his accident has changed his focus. With initial plans for a mechanic’s course, he’s now in his first year of human services at the Nova Scotia Community College in Kentville. He’ll continue in Truro next year, focusing on a therapeutic recreation concentration that could see him work with other disabled people. Down the road, after a return to school for leadership training, Brown says “my whole plan is to work with different recreation committees in the Valley to bring adaptive sports here.”
He’s hoping to get started this summer: he’s looking for a job with local recreation, really hoping for one leading a kids’ sports camp.
Brown would go so far as to say his accident has been a good thing: physically, he’s in better shape; he’s working on motivational speaking based on his experience, his independence is growing - and his course times in practice are just a few seconds behind where he was as an able-bodied four-wheeler racer in 2006.
“I have my moments - but who doesn’t in their own lives?” Brown asks. “You can’t whine, and I’m not here wallowing.
“I’m perfect.”
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